Italy’s Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti counting on home support to take them further in the World Championships

Italy's Greta Cicolari shows the determination and passion that have helped take her and Marta Menegatti into the World Championships last 16.

Rome, Italy, June 16 – Italian pair Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti are counting on their status as home town favourites to carry them far at the FIVB Swatch World Championships Rome 2011 powered by smart.

The duo eased into the last 16 of the women’s competition and had the backing of a raucous centre court crowd during their 21-16, 21-18 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Vasina and Anna Vozakova.

“We are very happy because we are playing in our first World Championships,” Cicolari said. “I think we are playing well and we hope to go on in this tournament.

“It (the crowd) is great. It is like having another partner. It is very good because when we have problems we hear the people screaming our names.”

Next up for the Italians are China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, with a place in the quarterfinals the reward for the winners.

The Chinese pair have shown that they are a dangerous opponent this season, notably when they won silver at the FIVB World Tour Olympic Bay Sanya Open.

“Tomorrow we have the Chinese team and it will be very difficult to win, but we hope to win the next game,” Cicolari said.

“We always think ball by ball, we don’t have an ultimate goal. We just want to play that one ball and then we will see what happens after for us.”